The undefeated Bradley (31-0) is the World Boxing Organization king. He won the title from Pacquiao (55-5-2) in a highly and I mean highly controversial decision in June 2009. Since then Bradley has successfully defended his belt against the tough Ruslan Provodonikov and future Hall of Famer, Juan Manuel Marquez.

The Provodonikov bout won fight of the year honors — and the defeat of Marquez was technical but epic in the sense that Bradley beat the guy who knocked Manny cold in 2012.

Last time that I checked Pacquiao was more than a 2-1 favorite to win back his title. But there are many boxing experts saying that at 35 he has lost his speed and his killer instinct.

In fact I just today talked with Brandon Rios, who fought and lost to Manny in November. Very respectful of his former rival, Rios said that Pacquiao does seem too nice in the ring, which is an odd thing for a fighter to say. But Rios also added that the speed was there and the in-and-out footwork.

Pacquiao is renown for his punching power — but he has not registered a KO in four years. When your KO percentage dips so do the pay-per- view numbers and when they go down — so do the purses — or so Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, has been reminding Manny.

At a recent roundtable Roach remarked, “The other day Manny told me this is the combination that I am going to use to finish him (Bradley) when I get him hurt.” Roach said, “Manny has never said anything like that before.” Roach also noted that he has been knocking people down sparring which is something he seldom does. In other words, the bulls eye for Pacquiao is a KO.

The last few days Bradley has even been predicting that he would knock out Pacquiao — which brought a laugh and a “we’ll see” from the eight-division world champion.

In their last contest, Pacquiao landed more punches and more importantly the harder blows, but more than half his shots came in the last minutes of each round. Two days ago Joel Diaz told me, “You can’t win a round if you are only fighting 30 seconds.” Of course that is not true because some fighters can do a lot of damage with 30 ticks — but Diaz was right that Pacquiao fought in spurts. Pacquiao will eager to keep a consistent level of activity going tonight – but that requires being in top condition.

Yesterday at the weigh-in Pacquiao tipped the scale at 145 and Bradley at 145.5 — both were below the 147 pound limit — which certainly suggests that they are in fighting fettle.

This is a cross-roads fight for both combatants. If Pacquiao loses he might have to seriously think about retirement — if he wins the cry will go out again for the long-awaited showdown, with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Bradley aka “Desert Storm” would not be knocked off the tracks by a defeat but a victory might lift him into the super-elite class and to much larger paydays.

Pacquiao is guaranteed $20 million for this fight – Bradley $6 million. Mayweather is guaranteed $30 million for each of his fights for Showtime. So pride aside, the dollars stakes are very high.

Though 48 out of 51 sportswriters had Pacquiao winning the first fight — many of them are now choosing Bradley. I am not one of them, but the argument is that Pacquaio has declined, he is getting old and has a lot of miles on his boxing odometer, whereas the 30-year-old Bradley has improved. Bradley has been in a lot of tough fights and always finds a way to win, or so the story goes. But 31 fights does not make a career. In an hour or so we will see if Bradley’s streak extend to 32-0 or if the Pacman’s punches will bring him back to the pugilistic pinnacle.

Canada’s Craig Metcalfe, Nevada’s Glenn Trowbridge, and Florida’s Michael Pernick will be the three judges tonight. The referee will be Kenny Bayless. This will be the 7th Pacquiao fight that Bayless has worked. He is a top notch ref.

One of Tim Bradley’s favorite combinations is jab jab right hand. He gets the momentum going with that double jab and then slams the right. Pacquiao likes to do the same from the left side–right jab right jab and then straight left. Pacman’s left is much harder than Bradley’s right.

The arena is dark, and it feels like a huge boom box is playing the place is shaking with energy , strobe lights, pics of the all-time great fighters on the video screen. They know how to crank up the crowd

Pacquiao lands a left. Bradley misses, feinting. Manny showing a lot of head movement. Tim lands a right, Manny moving in and out, lands a left to the body. Bradley lands a right to the body. Bradley lands a right, Manny lands a left at the end of the round.

Bradley throws a right, Manny jabbing — just the kind of fight he wanted. Bradley on the attack, throwing wild shots and missing. Manny lands a left. High-paced round. Bradley lands a good right, then misses with another right.

Bradley comes out jabbing. Manny moving his head, lands a good left. Manny has Bradley in the corner, landing left, after left, Bradley comingg back at him. Lands a right. They’re on the ropes. Bradley is so tough. What a fight. Bradley lands a good right, Manny lands a good uppercut.

Bradley misses with a right, jabbing. Manny circling to his right, lands a left and moves out. Both missed big shots. Bradley lands a right to the head. Manny jumping in and out. Bradley jabbing, lands a right. Manny lands a left.

Exchanging blows. Bradley lands a right to Manny’s head and he stumbles. Manny lands two hard lefts to the body. Bradley misses with a left, then lands hard right to Manny’s head. They’re in center ring looking at each other. Bradley’s best round.

Bradley on the attack left hook, right hand. Bradley coming straight in misses with right. Pace has slowwed. Pacquiao lands left to the body Pacquiao lands left to the body, misses a big left. Bradley jabbing.

This round is up for grabs right now. Pacquiao lands a good left. Bradley lands a right, Pacquiao lands right , left, body shot, straight left. Bradley misses with right and left. Pacquiao jabbing, Bradley has his hands at his side.

Center ring. Bradley comes in right to the head, left to the body. Pacquiao catches them. Bradley misses with some shots. Pacquiao has barely thrown a punch yet this round. Pacquiao feinting. Bradley is dancing. Pacquiao jabs, misses with a left. Pacquiao on the ropes. Pacquiao lands a left

Pacquiao lands a jab. Bradley misses with a right . Bradley lands a right . Pacquiao lands a jab, another jab. Bradley lands a hard right . Pacquiao lands a jab, another jab. Pace has slowed. Bradley on the ropes, Pacquiao lands shots at the end of the round.

Bradley comes in punching, swinging wild. Pacquiao lands a jab. Lands a right hook, lands straight left. Pacquiao lands a right, moving his head a lot. Bradley moving up and down, all over the place, has his hands down.

Bradley’s chasing Pacquiao, misses with some shots. Comes in wide. Bradley misses another big right , Pacquiao lands 1-2 combination, here he comes again, lands a left has Bradley on the ropes, Bradley lands a right . This is amazing. Pacquiao lands a left, right, but Bradley keeps fighting.

Bradley comes out with his usual 3- or 4-punch combination to start the round. Pacquiao misses with a combination. Bradley lands a jab, Pacquiao lands a jab. Bradley throws a wide left, Pacquiao catches it. Bradley lands left hook to the head. Jabbing. Pacquiao lands a left. Pacquiao lands a jab, and Bradley goes off balance.

Pacquiao lands a straight left. Pacquiao lands a right hook. Bradley comes back with right hand. Bradley coming forward swinging wildly. Pacquiao moving nicely, Bradley is the stationary one in this fight. Pacquiao throws a combination.

Pacquiao misses with a few punches, lands a left. Bradley throws a 3-punch combination. Bradley lands a right , a jab and a hook. Pacquiao lands a hook. They’re more active this round. Both jabbing. Bradley lands a good right . Pacquiao misses with 4 or 5 punches.

Bradley misses with a right . Bradley against the ropes, Pacquiao flurrying. They’re both gettingccautioned now. Bradley misses with a big right then left. Bradley lands a right Pacquiao moving his head. Bradley misses with a right Pacquiao has a cut over his left eye — accidental head butt. Bradley coming in hard.

Comments (5 of 51)

Bradley and Mosley fight against Manny bores me to death. Marquez might not be champion anymore but his style always makes his fight against Manny interesting. Trading punches is what people wants when they come to see Manny's fight

1:49 am April 13, 2014

relentless wrote:

As I said in all previous forums that Bradley would run around like a chicken with its head cut off, learn from mayweather. Bradley boxed like a sissy this match..I wonder what his excuse this time is...the socks.

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